1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a contact element which includes a female contact portion at a termination portion. The contact element of the invention is particularly useful for the so-called press fit technique according to which a pressing tool comes into direct engagement with several contact elements and presses the contact elements into a contact element receiving portion, for instance a circuit board.
2. Description of the Prior Art
European Patent Application No. 0 068 393 discloses a contact element having a female contact portion. The termination portion of such a contact element is adapted to be pressed into a circuit board. The required pressing force is transmitted by the upper portion of a housing via broadened portions of the contact element to a base plate, and from there to the termination portion. Thus, broadened portions are required to allow for the transmittal of the pressing force. Further, the known contact element is not a single piece design which means that the manufacture of such a contact element is complicated.
German Offenlegungsschrift No. 26 31 107 also discloses a contact element onto which the required pressing force is transmitted via the housing of the connector. For this purpose a sufficiently large surface area is required. Should the available surface area be not sufficient, then the plastic material of the housing may be overloaded with the consequence that the contact element penetrates into the housing.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a contact element which can be used in connection with the press fit technique.
Another object of the invention is to provide a contact element which can be used in a connector, specifically a connector of the elongated type useful e.g. for flat cables.
Another object of the invention is to provide a contact element which can be pre-assembled in the housing of a connector prior to mounting the connector elements by means of the press fit technique in a circuit board.
In accordance with another preferred object the contact element can be acted upon directly by means of the pressing tool without having the connector housing participate in the transfer of the pressing force.
Another object of the invention is to provide a contact element having a female contact portion such that it can be manufactured as a single piece by means of a stamping operation.